Blood Orange Buttercream Icing Recipe

Submitted by nicole on Mon, 02/11/2019 - 02:00

Blood orange buttercream icing is the perfect, all natural pink icing for Valentine's day cupcakes. Blood oranges are in season right now, and that gorgeous, ruby red blood orange juice adds delicious citrus flavor and gorgeous color to this blood orange frosting.

naturally pink blood orange buttercream icing on a metal beater surrounded by blood oranges cut in half.

Naturally pink blood orange buttercream icing being piped on blood orange cupcakes.

And, of course, blood orange icing is the perfect topping for the blood orange cupcakes I shared last week.

Ingredients for blood orange icing on a white marble background.

Blood Orange Buttercream Icing Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter (1 cup), softened
zest of one orange
teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 pounds powdered sugar
blood orange juice (I love my hand-juicer for small jobs like this)

naturally pink blood orange buttercream icing on a metal beater surrounded by blood oranges cut in half.

Combine the butter, orange zest, vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar together in a mixer bowl. Add blood orange juice gradually, mixing between each addition, until the icing is the right consistency for your purposes.

Naturally pink blood orange buttercream frosting being piped on blood orange cupcakes.

The more blood orange juice you add, the more intense the orange flavor will be, but the icing will also be less stiff. I like my cupcake icing to be stiff enough to hold the shape of the swirls I pipe.

Blood orange cupcakes topped with blood orange frosting and a slice of blood orange on a white background.